I am slow, and when I mean slow, I mean slow. I can do a 26 sec 50 with fins, but without I come in just under 1:20! I think a big part of it is just taking the fins off and doing a lot of kick sets to learn to feel the water better with my feet. I have a good breaststroke kick so I don't think my problem is an overly weak pair of legs, although they could be in better shape. Also, myankles are fairly flexible as I can point my toes and make my feet bend backwards past an even position with my shins. However, I do think that I need to loosen up my ankles when I kick. I feel like I get more out of my kick for those brief moments when I allow my ankles to snap back and forth with my kick. I think I actually need to relax more to kick faster as weird as that sounds.
I suppose the answer to my question is that I simply need to take of the fins and do kick set after kick set until I learn to feel the water better with my feet and become more efficient.
8/16/11: 23.5 SFK, 25.0 flutter w/ board, 13.5 sprint free
8/26/11: 23.5 SFK, 22.low flutter w/board, 13.mid sprint free
9/4/11: 22.mid SFK, 20.hi flutter w/board, 13.mid sprint free
9/14/11: 21.low flutter w/board, 28.hi flutter on back
9/21/11: 20.mid flutter w/board, 28.mid flutter on back, 13.mid sprint free
Lately I've incorporated more moderate swimming 100s w/ 15 seconds rest, trying to keep HR around 150 and get a feel for the water. I'm also doing more volume of kicking. I'm still doing sprint 25 kicks a few times a week.
I think the conditioning is helping but appears to be reaching a plateau. I think I can get under 20 or maybe even 19, but I think I'm gonna need some technical improvements to really take off time.
Great job, you're continuing to train, improve & test.
you're not plateauing
Get a water proof stopwatch (like an ironman wrist watch) and
time your kicks to the 10th of a second,
Knocking your 25 kick time down by a 10th of a second is progress,
right now you're just eyeballing and guessing.
It's time for accurate timing.
What are your goals?
8/16/11: 23.5 SFK, 25.0 flutter w/ board, 13.5 sprint free
8/26/11: 23.5 SFK, 22.low flutter w/board, 13.mid sprint free
9/4/11: 22.mid SFK, 20.hi flutter w/board, 13.mid sprint free
9/14/11: 21.low flutter w/board, 28.hi flutter on back
9/21/11: 20.mid flutter w/board, 28.mid flutter on back, 13.mid sprint free
Lately I've incorporated more moderate swimming 100s w/ 15 seconds rest, trying to keep HR around 150 and get a feel for the water. I'm also doing more volume of kicking. I'm still doing sprint 25 kicks a few times a week.
I think the conditioning is helping but appears to be reaching a plateau. I think I can get under 20 or maybe even 19, but I think I'm gonna need some technical improvements to really take off time.
Great job, you're continuing to train, improve & test.
you're not plateauing
Get a water proof stopwatch (like an ironman wrist watch) and
time your kicks to the 10th of a second,
Knocking your 25 kick time down by a 10th of a second is progress,
right now you're just eyeballing and guessing.
It's time for accurate timing.
What are your goals?
